Legislative Interns Serve in Frankfort, Ky.

January 03, 2012

Asbury University students Katherine Crow ’12 and Lawson Harrell ’13 will serve as two of only 20 students offered internships with the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission’s internship program for undergraduates this spring.

The pair will spend the spring semester working with the Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort, Ky. Each intern in the program is assigned a job that corresponds with their particular interests or qualifications. Placements include the LRC’s public affairs office and director’s offices, constituent services or one of the Assembly’s committees.

Lawson Harrell '13

“I am glad that I have been placed in the Judiciary Committee, because it will help prepare me for law school after graduating from Asbury,” Harrell said. “I have always had an interest in government. What attracts me most concerning this internship is that I will have practical work experience in governmental operations, rather than only having an academic perspective. Applying what I have learned in the classroom to a real life setting will certainly expand my understanding of government.”

The internship includes a monthly stipend and course credit for academic work completed through the program. As valuable as the academic credit is, though, one of the most useful aspects of the internship is the perspective it can offer students who are making decisions about their future careers. Crow, a political science major, will use the experience to help her determine graduate school possibilities.

“While I can say ‘politics’ is not something I wish to pursue, I am looking forward to this internship because it presents me with the side of government I am most interested in, policy,” Crow said. “I am interested in seeing behind the scenes of the legislative process, the forming of a bill and the trials it faces as it is led through the bureaucratic system. After this internship, I hope to know more about my ability to work in such an environment and if such a line of work is what I would like to invest in long term.”